Monday, February 09, 2009

Music mauled

There are certain songs I’ll hear these days that have been irretrievably ruined or altered in my mind. That is, I’ll immediately think of a skewered version of the song or how it conjures up bad memories given the venue in which it was played.

Here are just a few examples:

Carol of the Bells: OK, whose idea was it to go from ”Hark! Here the Bells” to ”Ding! Fries are Done”? That’s worse than ”Jingle Bells, Batman smells…”.


This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) (Natalie Cole): One word: OVERKILL!!! In addition to it being the commercial theme for eHarmony, this song was featured in seven movies in ten years, including The Parent Trap, Must Love Dogs and While You Were Sleeping.


American Pie (Don McLean): A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away…whoops, I mean….I can still remember how that music used to make me smile. Yes, thanks to Weird Al Yankovic I usually divert into his parody tune The Saga Begins whenever I hear the McLean classic.


Viva Las Vegas (Elvis Presley): A commercial for a certain little blue pill has forever denigrated this once great song. That’s all I’m sayin’.


You Send Me (Sam Cooke): From early 2007 until election day 2008, the fawning over Presidential candidate Barack Obama was utterly insufferable. But to hear about Chris Matthews’ tingly leg intertwined with this Cooke fave doesn’t…uh…”thrill me.” Thanks a lot, Fraters Libertas.


The floor is open for any other submissions.


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5 comments:

  1. StarBittrune2/09/2009 3:51 PM

    For me, this is true of pretty much any song ever parodied by Weird Al. But then, for years, I didn't know "Rock Me Jerry Lewis" was a parody. (Yes, I do live under a rock, but I peek outside more often now.)

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  2. Brad Carlson2/09/2009 3:58 PM

    That's too funny!! In fact, I recall at my wedding that you heard I Love Rock and Roll and Zoot Suit Riot for the first time. However, you mentioned that you heard the Weird Al parodies of those two songs several years earlier.

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  3. Mr. D2/09/2009 8:52 PM

    Weird Al wrecked a lot of songs, but some of his parodies were better than the originals - I'm especially thinking of "Taco Grande," his sendup of "Rico Suave," which was hilarious.

    The most obvious example is what Malcolm McDowell/Stanley Kubrick did to "Singing in the Rain" in the movie "A Clockwork Orange." If you've seen it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Dennis Hopper and David Lynch weren't exactly nice to Roy Orbison in "Blue Velvet," either. I should probably stop watching movies like these, no?

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  4. Dan S.2/09/2009 11:02 PM

    I've been unable to enjoy not only "Don't Stop...," but any Fleetwood Mac song since 1992.

    Should I seek therapy?

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  5. Dan S.2/09/2009 11:13 PM

    Oh, and this is my favorite Weird Al song.

    Again, should I seek therapy?

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